Aubrey Plaza

As soon as you saw this name, you may have immediately thought: how can Aubrey Plaza possibly be a role model for young women? But don’t worry, I’ll explain it and it’ll totally make sense, I promise.

I’ve always loved Aubrey Plaza since I saw her on Parks and Recreation. She played the role of April Ludgate, who began as an intern in the Pawnee department of Parks and Recreation before becoming a full time assistant. Her character and her acting were just superb, and one thing I really liked about her character was how she didn’t just wait for Chris Pratt’s character (I don’t remember his name) when he was stuck between Aubrey’s character and another woman. She made space between the two of them until the time was eventually right for them to start dating.

Now
that anecdote is obviously just a part of the TV show, so it really doesn’t
reflect Aubrey as a person, but her somewhat weird behavior on the show
definitely did, and that’s more of why I love her as a human being. To put it
bluntly, Aubrey Plaza is really weird. I originally thought it was just her on
Parks and Rec, until I started seeing her more outside of the TV show.

In
all of the interviews she does, she really just does some totally weird things.
From weird outbursts of her random thoughts, to weird facial expressions and
sexually suggestive commentary, just about everything I’ve seen from Aubrey
includes some weird quirks at the very least.

But
what is great about it is that she is being true to herself. Most people in the
spotlight do their best to portray normalcy in order to be accepted by the
mainstream audience. Aubrey simply isn’t like that. No matter what people think
of her (and there’s a lot to think about her given her overall strangeness in
everything she does), Aubrey doesn’t change.

This
is exactly the kind of mindset we should be instilling in our youth. There is
so much pressure to “fit in” with our peers that a lot of times, people who are
truly unique hide their true selves to the world. That uniqueness is really
what is most valuable about people, and so hiding that does nothing but keep
ourselves from fulfilling our full potential.

When
young girls see Aubrey Plaza, they may at first think she is super weird. But
over time, they will realize that she is being her true self, and has not, and
will not ever change. And hopefully, they emulate that mindset in their own
lives.

Now
admittedly most girls are not as weird as Aubrey. But whatever character traits
and personalities are present in young women, it is important to keep them
present as they grow up. And although I doubt many parents in particular would
jump at the chance of introducing Aubrey Plaza to their young girls, at the
very least, it is important to recognize how she can be seen as a role model
and teach the relevant traits to their children (even if they don’t mention
Aubrey Plaza explicitly).